Straight from The Heart

By : Sri. Radhakrishna Swamiji

It was in 1949. Both Sri Narasimha Swamiji and I went to Nandi Hills in Karnataka for a short vacation. Sri Narasimha Swamiji wanted to complete the second volume of his masterpiece ‘Life of Sai Baba’.

Dressed in a cool cotton shirt and comfortable white dhoti, the avuncular man with the mirthful eyes, is walking around at a leisurely pace, and examines the leaves and flowers of plants allaround him with loving interest. It was a guest house on the hill station, a sprawling house that has more flora than buildings. Sri Narasimha Swamiji preferred to stay here during every summer season to pursue his writing work. The center of activity has always been at Mylapore in Chennai, where Sri Narasimha Swamiji carried on the Sai-prachar work.

Sri Narasimha Swamiji spots us. Walking with out-stretched hands and drawing closer to us, he extends a palm, displaying a beautiful leaf with serrated but rounded edges whose fragrance reminds one of the eucalyptus and also citronella. ‘Yes’, he says, animatedly, ‘this is indeed a hybrid containing both!’ And so, the discussion begins with plants and their healing properties, and why it is so important to live in sync with nature. And to be able to breathe in fresh air, free of pollutants.

At Nandi hills, we could see farming of vegetables, herbs and fruits were in full swing — and so also cultivation of fragrant flowers like roses. The hill station is designed to facilitate extensive test. Recuperation and spiritual mentoring, promoting personal inner experience, opportunity to learn and contribute. We could see few people meditating under a couple of trees. Accommodation is available and more is coming up, with several houses, children’s play center and other facilities.

Though buildings are under construction, everything is neat and clean, and the atmosphere is suffused with peace. Any waste wood — mostly from fallen trees—have been transformed into beautiful works of art that are also of practical use like benches, swings, garden seats and tables. Everything seems to be designed to complement and celebrate nature rather than violate it and that is what warms your heart right at the start.

Sri Narasimha Swamiji’s mission of taking Sai Baba to people is what he called ‘Heartfulness Practices’, that includes not just Sai-pooja, chanting of Ashtothara and Sahasranama, meditation, prayers, bhajans but also something very exciting, called ‘Brighter Minds’ that is specially designed for youngsters and children. In Sai Vidyalaya at Mylapore, Sri Narasimha Swamiji introduced Heartfulness Practices to children which “nurture our souls, removes all that keep them hidden, and set free that spark of childlike innocence and wonder that makes life truly meaningful as devotees of Sai Baba”. Sri Narasimha Swamiji is always very enthused by the wonderful progress being made by youngsters in Sai Vidyalaya at Mylapore.

By then Sri Narasimha Swamiji introduced us to two boys, Anand and Chaitanya who are in the Tenth Standard in a regular school; the children have come to see Sri Narasimha Swamiji to attend to his needs. Anand says he is an archer, and that he aims better when he is blind-folded! What? Blindfolded? I ask him to explain what he just said, and this is what he had to say, as Sri Narasimha Swamiji pipes in with a huge smile, “He hits bull’s eye blindfolded!”

“Yes,” says Anand who says he first examines the target with all his five senses, and absorbs the visual in his mind, and then gets blindfolded. “I can concentrate and focus better this way,” he says. “I use my sense of smell and just let go of the arrow.” And this is not all, both Anand and Chaitanya can read anything, blindfolded. And play football, too, blindfolded! Sri Narasimha Swamiji requests the boys to demonstrate their skill and they are very happy indeed, to do so.

I write something on a piece of paper and pass it to Anand who is now blind-folded with a thickly padded cloth. He caresses the paper, then places it before his nose, smells it, and says, ‘Good Boy’— which is what I wrote!

“All our senses are connected to the brain,” he says when he hears our collective gasp. Another visitor hands a card to Chaitanya, and I get stressed, thinking, that is difficult, why is he giving the child a dense card with so many names and titles? But before you can say ‘card’, Chaitanya reads the entire card — name, designation, address, et al. ‘O my God, this is incredible!’ we all exclaim. And this is with just four years of practice.

Sri Narasimha Swamiji beams, saying, “See, this is what children can do when they practice observing with all senses, and Sai Baba’s grace helps them to concentrate…. I always, say, Sai-worship is the icing on the cake, it is such a delight.” That is why we work on the heart, says Sri Narasimha Swamiji, pointing out that the moment you clean the heart, Sai Baba becomes the mentor.

Sri Narasimha Swamiji continued, “We cannot do it if we try now, but children can do it. We make them listen to Bhairavi and while listening to it, you go to sleep. As you listen to it, it activates certain centers in your brain. You keep up the practice of keeping all centers of the brain active. Even a blind could regain eyesight. He told us that in Andamans one particular island had all residents blind. Sri Narasimha Swamiji sent one of his Doctor devotees to that island who diagnosed that they were suffering from a congenital cataract. Sri Narasimha Swamiji arranged for funds from All India Sai Samaj so that all the 800 blind residents were operated and could get vision.

In propagating Sai Baba to people Sri Narasimha Swamiji looked forward to a new generation of young, creative minds whose creativity may never wane with Sai Baba’s blessings.